Get Your Beach Body Ready

Summer cannot get here soon enough! All the months spent indoors, waiting for the warm weather will finally be worth it when you bust out your swimming suit. If the thought of wearing a bikini has you nervous, there is still time to get your beach body back! Don’t worry, we’re not talking about extreme, unsafe diets that deprive you of food and leave you feeling irritated. Instead, we’ve put together the top tips that everyone can use to get the beach body they’ll be proud of!

1. Eat Protein with Every Meal

It is no secret that eating enough protein is important for increasing muscle mass, but protein also plays a role in fat loss too. Spreading your protein intake across all three meals can aid in fat loss. People who consumed protein throughout that day saw better weight loss results while preserving more lean mass, the ultimate goal for the ideal beach body.

2. Stop Snacking

Snacking, even healthy snacking, can stall weight loss and prevent you from losing those last few pounds. A few quick bites of healthy food might not seem like much, but the rushed and often mindless way in which most people snack can be bad for their beach body progress. A few extra calories here and there add up quickly and can cause you to overeat unintentionally. Instead of snacking, sit down to a balanced meal three or four times a day. It is much easier to keep track of your consumption if you have distinct meal times.

3. Cut out Cocktails, Wine & Beer

Is the beach body of your dreams leaner and more toned than your current physique? Then, you need to reduce your caloric intake so that your body begins to burn stored fat. With every sip of alcohol, you are ingesting unnecessary calories. Alcohol also tends to lower our inhibitions and make us less likely to stick to our diets. If leanness is the key to your beach body, steer clear of the bar.

4. Eat Food that Fight Cellulite

Cellulite is a problem that nine out of every ten women have to face each bikini season. It can develop as a result of a breakdown in the skin’s connective tissue, known as collagen. Collagen is a type of protein, so eating high quality protein foods can help to strengthen the collagen fibers that reduce cellulite; and remember to drink lots of water! Flaxseeds are also a good source of collagen. Dark colored berries like blueberries and blackberries naturally boost the body’s collagen production.

5. Follow a Low-bloat Diet

A bloated belly could cause your beach body to look puffy instead of shredded. If you are just a few days away from your beach body reveal, adopt a low-bloat diet. For starters, avoid high-sodium packaged foods that can trigger water retention. Surprisingly, there are healthy foods that can cause bloating too. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and kale contain slow-digesting carbohydrates. Other clean foods that might cause bloat include apples, beans and peas. To prevent water retention, eat high-potassium fruits like bananas, avocados, kiwis and oranges.

6. Sleep 7-9 Hours Every Night

Sleep is critical to achieving any physique goals. Whether your perfect beach body requires fat loss or major muscle gain, sleep will be a key to your success. Sleep allows your body to recover from intense exercise, grow and repair muscles. Sleep deprivation can disrupt your hormonal balance and cause you to experience excessive hunger and cravings.

7. Don’t Neglect Upper Back Training

No beach body is complete without a trim waist. What most people do not realize is that strong, well-developed upper back muscles will make the waist look smaller and more defined. When you neglect to train the upper back, your body can look out of balance and your waist might appear bigger than it actually is. Start sculpting the upper back that your beach body needs by adding bent over rows to your training program.

8. Train for Better Posture

It is hard to show off an impressive beach body if your posture is pathetic. Poor posture is not only unattractive, but it can also interfere with your training. Poor posture can cause compromised muscles which can limit your ability to burn fat and build strength. Almost everybody could stand to improve their posture.

9. Use High-Intensity Interval Training to Lean out

High-intensity interval training, known as HIIT, is a type of conditioning workout that alternates between short bouts of high-intensity exercise and short bouts of recovery. When compared with traditional cardio, HIIT is a much more time effective way to lose fat.

10. Increase your Non-Exercise Physical Activity

Keeping your diet and training program on-point will go a long way to helping you look hot on the beach. But you should also pay attention to what you do outside of the gym and the kitchen. Increasing your non-exercise physical activity will enhance the results of your training and make it easier to maintain a beach body well into fall. Simple changes like using the stairs, walking for relaxation instead of channel surfing and being active on the weekends can make a big difference.

11. Select Exercises That Emphasize the Core A strong, firm core is on everybody’s beach body checklist. You can sneak extra core training into your workout by selecting exercises that require extra core strength. For example, choose pushups instead of the bench press, train your lower body with the front squat and deadlifts, and replace cable rows with body weight rows.